Guest Post by Author Brian Stansell

Hey everyone! I thought I’d close the month with a guest post by a friend and fellow writer. A couple weeks ago, during Because You Saw Me’s release tour, I did a guest post on Brian Stansell’s blog. He wrote a post in response to the question I left for the audience at the end, and I offered to share it here. So buckle up and enjoy today’s inspirational post!

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A Peek into My Passion for writing the “Excavatia” books

My writing process? Wow. It is not so much a process as it is floundering around, trying to keep from drowning as I am flooded with ideas, that I must capture and clarify.  I feel like I am trapped in a Galaga game, with three lives, trying to keep from getting hit by a rain of falling torpedoes and swooping alien invaders, divebombing me in kamikaze runs.  Every now and then I’ll accidently hit a particularly vicious attacker and gain a momentary breakthrough that give me precious seconds of extended protection, provided I don’t get too cocky.

In a way, much of my writing comes from being both a literary fan, having read many genres and classics over the years, and a news junkie, and underlying it all, being a student of God’s Word, realizing its application should be made more immediate and present in our chaotic “Galaga” world.  Part of my writing comes out of a grieving process, for how much deception has stolen from our life and our culture.  I am a firm believer, that God wants us being a light in this world, but not just a light to unbelievers, but a light to fellow Christians caught up in despair because of the world’s dimness.  Christians seem to live in a gray light, vacillating from the brightness that comes from being around “churchy” things, like a week of revival, or coming back from a youth camp experience where God did a move in their friends hearts, to being thrust back out into the darkness of daily life where bills await them, kids get sick, “friends” who are nice to our face, but ugly to our backs, get us down and dejected.  While we need community, very, very few of us know how to stand for Christ when we feel like we are standing alone.

It is very easy to become discouraged in that, and often we shrink into ourselves and let the enemy of our souls bring obstacles of fear, doubt, and low self-worth to cast shadows on our idea of who we are in Christ Jesus.  I realized that the devil has cowed so many Christians into these shadowy corners that we live lives as if we have forgotten Who stands with us, and beside us, even when we think all others have abandoned us, because we see with our eyes alone and do not see with the eyes of our spirit.  Part of the reason why the world is falling into a deeper darkness, is because Christians have forgotten the implications of what our salvation is meant to do in us and through us.  Jesus said, in John 15:5, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” 

Too often we do not spend time reflecting that we are grafted branches, and not The Vine with the root system itself.  We go off trying to live “the Christian life” in a disconnected fashion, forgetting that “apart from Him, we can do nothing” meaningful, lasting, and good.  Not everyone is the same, and we cannot “copycat” our way through to find our life’s “purpose and expression”.  Scripture says, in 1 Corinthians 12:6, “God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.”  Sometimes we go off on the wrong track trying to be like someone we admire, or do things as we think our heroes might.  We spend so much time trying to be someone else, that we forget that our uniqueness is one of God’s gifts, and He wants us to come to understand the fullness and value of who He meant us to be.  He gave us a way to express ourselves, that He values, and purposed to be in this moment in time, within this setting and set of circumstances.  He wants to empower us to shine His light in the place and people surrounding us.  What people need and are searching for is hope and certainty, and, frankly, they will not find it in this world.  These are otherworldly promises, that can only be found in a present and walking relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ.  We Christians have that hope planted within us, through our relationship with Christian as His adopted children.  

Romans 8:20-25 tells us, “For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God who subjected it – in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.”

It occurred to me that, if we really want to share the “Hope” that is within us, we must ensure that we are walking in the awareness of our relationship to God, and letting Him flow through us to a dead and darkening world of people who need the “Hope” we have.
We have to live in the joy of a salvation that bubbles up and burst through us.  A depressed person can take no solace from advice given by a person who stays depressed themselves.  We have to rethink how we prioritize our relationships in our own lives. Are we spending meaningful time in the awareness of God’s presence?  Are we prioritizing our personal time with Him, or our relationship to some device and social media?  Should the God who spoke our existence into being, be the first voice we listen to, or the last in our busy day?  Our seeming disconnectedness from Him, with respect to our awareness of Him in our every moment, does make a difference in how we present Him to the world at large.

I realized, that so many Christians who nobly want to follow “The Great Commission” too often look outward, rather than inward, start their evangelizing efforts.  Jesus very pointedly asked Peter, if he loved him, and Peter became exasperated until he finally realized what God was telling him to do; “Feed His sheep.”

Jesus knew that to be effective as channels of His light to the world, we must start in our own backyards, getting our own houses in order, before we project the need for an orderly household to the world.  “His sheep” were fellow Christians.  We need to nurture and encourage each other, as evidence of loving Him.  John says it this way in 1 John 4:11-12: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

We can’t expect the world to want anything we claim to have, if we don’t first demonstrate to them that we have it, by the way we treat one another, and live our lives in this world.

So, I began to reflect on the need of encouraging fellow believers to grow in their faith.  The apostle Paul did this in his mentorship with Timothy. Barnabas did it with John Mark, who later went on to write the Gospel that bears his second name.
We have the mystery of Christ’s presence dwelling within us, but few take the conscious effort to unpack that and all its implications for our own lives.

If you’ve ever been on an airplane, you might have noticed the safety announcement, stating the need for a parent to put their oxygen mask on before putting one on their child.  This might seem counterintuitive, but it makes sense.  The child’s survival depends entirely on the survival of their caregiver.  If their parent dies, they are left to the imminent dangers of the circumstances that killed their parent.  Similarly, if I am sick and contagious, I am not being kind or loving, if I give my illness to someone else that I am trying to care for.  We have a responsibility to take time to energize ourselves with connection to The Vine, which has the root system necessary to bring nutrients into us and cause us to bear good fruit.

So, my focus has shifted from merely trying to write a story that might coax a pagan to ease out of their darkness, to edifying the believers, who can then shine meaningfully in their own pursuit of The One who pursued us into our world and died for us here.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 shows that Paul was doing this and encouraging others to do so as well: “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”  In fact, Paul’s letters, which comprise much of the New Testament, was to believing communities.

In secular bookstores, I see the Christian fiction section growing smaller and smaller each year.  Unless one buys online, there are not many places one can find much Christian fiction in a traditional store that is not some Amish romance, or some pioneering romantic tale by the unusual authors we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.  Many of the popular genres that are hot in the mainstream market, do not often translate down through the faith-based market.  A very smart person once said, if you are looking at a market or a ministry opportunity, find the gap and fill it.  To me, a light bulb flashed on. One of those klieg lights, actually, that cast tall beams into the night sky signifying that some place in town is having either a grand opening or a big sale on their car lot. 😉
I wanted to write a Fantasy story specifically for Christians to challenge them to unpack their identity in Christ.  To become aware that being a Christian is not just some passive state of mind, but an active one, that requires them to become aware of the daily battlefields they are on.  It is part of the reason Paul told believers to put on the armor of light.

[Romans 13:12 NKJV] The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

[Ephesians 6:11 NKJV] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

I don’t think I have ever seen a recent and modern fictional treatment of the expectations of faith warfare, other than those from John Bunyan with Pilgrim’s Progress” or The Present Darkness duology from Frank E. Peretti, and I felt impressed that it was time we had one.  Christians need good literature.  We used to lead in being the best with C. S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and John Milton, but somehow, we have given away the front seats to pagan authors whose works show an obsession with occult powers and domination in godless worlds.

Growing up as a minister’s eldest son, I have seen what happens to faith communities and the myriad struggles they have when they dare to be salt and light to the outside world.  They have to be equipped for that, and they need to have an awareness of those battlefields and the tactics the unseen enemy will used against them through people.  Many people get tripped up thinking that they must be worthy of a grace God gives before they can speak to anyone about matters of faith.  Fact is, Jesus’s righteousness is imputed to us, and it was never about our ability to ransom ourselves from the prison of sin we were born into.  It is one reason I knew that I must be led by an active and connected faith to write such an ambitious venture.

My daily process always starts with bible reading and prayer.  It is not my amount of faith or my ability that is needed, but God working through me to write something unique to an audience that is rapidly becoming underserved in the fiction market.  I also see what may be viewed as a “selfish” motivation, because I have mourned over witnessing Christians trying to become more mainstream in their appeal because that’s where they think the money and opportunities are.  I should not question their motives, but that is what it feels like looking through the windows.

I hope people never become ashamed to mention the precious name of Jesus in their works, because it might offend someone used to using that name as a curse word.  There is a far difference from making a work “preachy” from making a work acknowledge and revere our Creator.

The world needs “hope” but so do Christians.  They need a constant awareness of the “guarantee” we should live under.

[2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us [is] God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

My “Excavatia” series is about re-discovering those missions we believers have to bear the eternal virtues of “faith, hope and love” into our world.  To re-learn that our “righteousness” comes from our Lord, and so does the “equipping” to carry out what unique role He calls each of us to.  We are to essential “Excavate” the Kingdom that God intends to live through us.  We are ”living stones” being built upon a foundation of “The Chief Cornerstone” that has marked us as His own.

The Apostle Peter [1 Peter 2:4-8] states it this way: “Coming to Him [as to] a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God [and] precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, [He is] precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.”

This story is not an allegory (like Pilgrim’s Progress), but it does types and shadow symbolisms that only the biblically literate might understand.  Embedded in the tale are biblical principles and ideas hidden among the outer workings of the saga, some of which I have drawn from my study of scripture and some of which I have personally learned in the “working out of my own faith journey” that Paul alludes to in Philippians 2:12.  One example is the difference between having forgiveness offered as being different from “receiving” and walking in forgiveness.  The MC, which humbly bears my first name, though he is often referred to as “Mister O’Brian”, because he has trouble “receiving forgiveness” for a past betrayal and actions that inhibit him accepting the role of his present calling.  He struggles with being called to lead, and his own worthiness to take on that mantle.  The truth behind that is that when God calls you to do something in obedience to Him, it is not because you are worthy of the calling, nor arising out of your own capabilities.  He equips those He calls. (1 Thessalonians 5:24) 

God never needs our strength.  He supplies His own through our yieldedness and daily relationship with Him.  We are never “up to the task” He calls us to.  But He is and requires that we allow Him to work in and through us to accomplish a “Kingdom” mission.  Self-doubt often inhibits us from accomplishing bigger things.  That is one of the weapons the enemy uses against us, and it is why I chose to make that part of my MC’s character arc.  He must take on the responsibility for which he has been called by operating in faith in the nature of The One who called him to the task.  “In our weakness, He is strong.” (paraphrasing 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 & 1 Corinthians 15:43-44) I wanted a flawed MC that someone could identify with.  One who betrayed a friend.  A Judas that finds a renewal of purpose through the forgiveness that comes from the One who called him to be a disciple.
Writing as I have been on this story since August of 2017, has deepened me in my awareness of our common struggles to live as Christ’s ambassadors to the dying world.  Trusting God in our circumstances is what we are meant to do, with a deliberate mindset, that there are enemies out there seeking to take us down.

For the Christian, heroism is not about being tough enough or skilled enough to take on the threats of the world, but it is in allowing “Our Hero” to work through us as His avatar, His paladin, to accomplish that which would seem impossible.  That kind of faith reliance does get the world’s attention.  They need to see His reflection in us, before they will, as Peter says (1 Peter 3:15): “…ask[] you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”

I know that is a long answer, but that is where this passion comes from.

I tend to write in the evenings, and sometimes in the mornings with a hot cup of roasted dandelion tea nearby.  I listen to the daily news and sometimes find myself wanting to connect worlds–my story world and our living world–to then demonstrate how biblical principles shed light and unmask what is really going on behind the scenes.  I won’t deny that that has happened a few times, for I feel that the rich landscape of a fictional world, often lets us see and work through concepts that might be blurred into our busy and distraction-filled lives.  Scripture arms us against deception, and lays bare the schemes and plots of the enemy trying to distract us from what God calls us to.  Fiction lets us suspend the noise of reality for a time and look upon a subject with a kind of childlike wonder, simplifying what we may have missed “seeing” otherwise.

It is my hope that I can help bring my readers back into that kind of childlike wonder of story, and give them a few concepts to take back with them into their own “Surface World.”

Since it is becoming harder to step out of our busy worlds, I often create Audio files of my written work to allow a person who is always “on the go” to reflect back and be transported audibly to a fantastic and adventurous place between here and there, to gain a moment to see their own similar path in a different light.

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A big thank you to Brian for sharing about his passion for writing! You can learn more about him and his writing journey here or read about his latest adult fantasy series via this link here.

Thanks so much for joining us today, everyone!

What do you think? Should I feature more inspirational posts on the blog? Or would you like me to try other things? Also, what are you passionate about in stories as either a writer or a reader? Let’s chat below!